Voices from the Maine Youth Center

Who We Are and Who We Are Becoming

Adolescent Girls' Health Issues

Cultivating Hardiness Zones for Adolescent Girls

Girls' Health: An Action Plan for Maine

Mainely Girls' Special Report
MAINE GIRLS:
WHO WE ARE
AND WHO WE'RE BECOMING

Data and Findings from the 1998/1999 Survey of Girls

For further information contact:

Mainely Girls
69 Elm Street
Camden, ME 04843
207-230-0170
megirls@midcoast.com

Copyright 2000 by Mainely Girls. Permission to copy, disseminate, or otherwise use information from this survey report is granted as long as appropriate acknowledgment is given. To obtain additional copies of this publication, please contact Mainely Girls.

FULL REPORT
(Click here for Executive Summary)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Survey Mission
Acknowledgments
About Mainely Girls
The Survey Tool
Methods of Survey Dissemination
Survey Population
The Findings
     Part One: Getting to Know You
     Part Two: Body, Heart and Soul
     Part Three: School Biz'
     Part Four: Future Moves
Summary of Survey Findings and Recommendations
Not a Conclusion But Rather a Beginning
Appendix

This report was prepared for Mainely Girls by Cathy Plourde, BS, MA

Copyright 2000 by Mainely Girls. Permission to copy, disseminate, or otherwise use information from this survey report is granted as long as appropriate acknowledgment is given. To obtain additional copies of this publication, please contact Mainely Girls, 69 Elm Street, Camden, ME 04843. Phone 207-230-0170. E-mail megirls@midcoast.com

Survey Mission

Mainely Girls has set out to better understand the needs and realities of Maine girls. Surveys that have been done of Maine youth have only recently been sorting according to gender, and it is hoped that by identifying girls' specific responses and experiences we can influence other surveying agencies to consider a gender sort in the future. It is the goal of this report to give voice to the realities, challenges, dreams, needs, and strengths of Maine girls.

Note: A similar survey was commissioned by the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group in Augusta, Maine to assess the needs of and services for girls in the juvenile justice system as well as those incarcerated or in after-care programs at the Maine Youth Center. A copy of that report can be obtained by calling the Maine State Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. It can also be found on the Mainely Girls' web site.

The Mainely Girls Survey, Maine Girls: Who We Are And Who We Are Becoming was made possible by a grant from The Lillian Berliawsky Charitable Trust, and the Bingham Foundation supplied additional funds for the printing, publicity and distribution of the final report. Great thanks must be extended to all of the teachers, counselors, principals and friends who assisted Mainely Girls in reaching close to 500 respondents around the state of Maine. Additional copies of this report are available from Mainely Girls or can be found on the Mainely Girls web site.

Thanks to all the Maine Girls who took time to take the survey. Also, many thanks to the people who assisted in the creation of the final survey: the Mainely Girls' Student Executive Board, Jeannie Dissette, Barrie Pribyl, Lauren Sullivan, Louise Trembley of New Hope for Women. Steve McFarland from the University of Southern Maine and the Casco Bay Partnership for Workplace Education assisted with database technicalities. Dr. Alan Leighton of the Muskie School of Public Service, and Dr. Cary Jenson of the University of Maine, Orono, provided invaluable guidance during the process as well as assistance with the presentation of the findings. Cathy Plourde, BA, MA, coordinated the distribution of the survey and the writing of the report.

The Survey Tool
Description of the tool

The survey was 95 questions long, with many of the questions having single or multiple part follow-up questions or requests for explanation resulting in over 200 database fields. Some were concerned that the girls would find it too long and lose interest, but many observations indicated that the girls were engaged all the way through. When completed by hand, rather than on the computer, it took 7th grade girls between 21 and 31 minutes. It often took an hour when administered on-line.

Described below are the survey's four sections. Each ends with an opportunity for the respondents to comment on the survey or their experience so far:

• Part One: GETTING TO KNOW YOU (questions 1 through 18)
• Part One asks the respondents for town and age, the two major identifying questions. The town gives a rural, urban, northern and southern sort to the data. We ask what race they identify as (optional question), with whom they live, how long they've lived in Maine, and whether or not they have traveled out of the state and country. We also look for whether their parents are from Maine, their parents' highest level of education, and parents' employment. We ask the girls how financially comfortable they feel their family is and what degree of responsibility they have in their family. Data is available on how the girls describe their relationships with their mother and father.
• Part Two: BODY, HEART AND SOUL (questions 19 through 56)
• This second section is more personal. The questions focus on girls' mental health (general outlook, stressors, and depressors), and access to mental and physical healthcare services. There are questions about eating disorders, self-mutilation, depression, stealing, smoking, drinking, drugs, and gangs. We also look for information about sexual, verbal and physical abuse, date rape, gang-related, or other forms of violence. We asked the girls to self-identif in any of the categories and ask, if abused, was the abuser a person living in their home and/or a relation. The girls also answer questions about suicidal tendencies, body image, diet and exercise and television habits. The final line of questioning focuses on sexual attitudes, behavior and experience.
• Part Three: SCHOOL BIZ' (questions 57 through 80)
• This third section of the survey looks at school environment and attitudes toward school. We ask about both social and safety aspects as well as academic and performance information. Information about jobs, pay rate, school and non-school activities give a fuller vision of how girls fill their time outside of class.
• Part Four: FUTURE MOVES (questions 81 through 95)

The final section of the survey taps into the girls' plans, aspirations, and understanding of their future options. We ask what would make their lives happier right now and as adults, what obstacles are or could interfere, and who supports their dreams. One last question asks what sort of workshops, opportunities or information they are interested in having available to them as they work toward making their dreams a reality.

• Comments

After each of the four survey sections we ask the girls to write their comments on the survey or for us so far. Many of these comments are placed as sidebars throughout this report, offering valuable context and voice to the data findings.

Four women who have had extensive experience working with adolescent girls wrote the survey in 1997. The surveys produced by the Minnesota Women's Fund (1990), the Women's Foundation of Colorado and Girls Count (1994), and the Radcliffe Policy Institute (1996) was consulted during the development of the Mainely Girls survey. Subsequent drafts and revisions were made to incorporate input from girls, adolescent health and wellness workers, domestic abuse counselors, psychologists, etc. and the survey was piloted with 30 junior high and high school girls in the Maine mid-coast area.

Web page designer Annie Higbee and computer technician John Rocheleau, placed the survey on the Mainely Girls web site so that completed surveys arrived in a special email account with an anonymous identification default easily downloaded into the database. The intention was to be able to reduce data entry expenses and time and guarantee anonymity, hopefully increasing girls' willingness to be honest and give more information. We recognized that computer-only access would limit the girls to those in equipped schools or who had home access. Hard copies were to be distributed to individuals and school sites that did not have computer access.

Roughly, 1/3 of the surveys actually came in over the Internet, and there were several reasons for this disappointing result. School computer labs are heavily used and scheduling was a problem for many. The survey administrators were usually guidance counselors or willing teachers and some of them were uncomfortable with the technology. Getting the students together at the same time to do the survey and coordinating the lab time was problematic. Some schools just didn't have enough computers for the group they wanted to take the survey.

The survey was completed by girls aged 12-14 and 16-17, roughly in the 7th grade and 11th grade. The intention of targeting these two age groups was to identify what changes are in store for girls between their junior high/late middle school years and their late high school years. The total number of completed, usable surveys was 459.

Schools selection and county distribution.

Working by county, the selection was primarily based on schools and individuals that were willing to be involved in the project. The geographical distribution was more uneven than had been hoped for, but northern, central, down-eastern, western, mid-coast, and southern Maine are all well represented, and the distribution does mirror Maine's population distribution. While there were no identifiable participants from Sagadahoc County, there were individuals and schools who participated from more rural regions in Cumberland County. 38 high school and junior high/middle schools officially participated. Where possible, 7^th graders and 11^th graders were approached in the same district, but this goal was not always achieved. How many junior high girls and how many high school girls per county is not reported here because the sampling sizes were not always big enough to support same-district comparative studies.

Selection of the participants.

Based on the uncontrolled methods of selecting and accessing participants, and by the total number of surveys gathered, the data we offer you is not to be regarded as hard statistical facts representing all girls in Maine, but rather data on girls who completed the survey. In the schools, we relied on the contact person, usually a guidance counselor, to find willing participants. We specifically asked that the individual use her judgement to procure 10 or more students who represented the school's population, rather than only the perceived "best and brightest". Some did this by getting all the girls from an entire health class or study hall, or in two cases, an entire grade to participate; other proctors handpicked their own cross-section. It must be acknowledged that often those who are willing to do these sort of favors for a counselor or teacher come from a more narrow group of students, and as this was a voluntary project, only those who wanted to participated. Some girls who were taking the survey with their whole grade choose to give obviously false or outrageous data and those surveys were not included in the data analysis.

Not all girls who took the survey were approached in schools. Some were approached at girls' conferences (Waterville and Camden in March 1999, for example); some were personally known by the project handlers and were willing to fill out the survey; some were involved in special programs, such as YWCA's or Peer Education groups and responded to the request.

What about the girls who are not in the schools? Our efforts to reach home schooled students were limited to personal contacts, as efforts to go through home-schooling networks or guidance counselors who were in touch with home schooled students was unsuccessful. During the administration period, many other surveys were being circulated, making it impossible to have access to some schools. Girls involved in social services were also being subjected to surveys assessing their agency, and the small number of girls who had dropped out of school who took the survey was again limited to a couple of personal contacts. These are the girls that the system had already failed, or who had failed in the system—girls who had rejected the system's structure or were rejected by the system.

It is hoped that the anecdotal comments and interpretations from girls themselves will give voice and perspective to what is real for girls. Though it is not hopelessly bleak, and there are some wonderful surprises, there's still a great deal of work to be done. This is just a first level of inquiry. What is most clear is that when we need to know what to do and what to offer girls—what we need to do first is ask them. If they feel it is safe, and if they feel it's worth their time to tell us—meaning why do we want to know and will we really listen? —they will speak openly and honestly.

The results from the Mainely Girls Survey, Maine Girls: Who We Are And Who We Are Becoming is offered in sections which parallel the structure of the survey itself, Parts One through Four. Whenever possible, the headings repeat the actual questions to which the girls were responding.

How many girls participated?

459 surveys were deemed useable. Discards were made when data was unreadable (computer mysteries) or if it seemed the respondent was not being truthful (e.g., outlandish responses).

     290 respondents were junior high school age
     169 respondents were high school age

Note: Some schools call themselves middle schools, some call themselves junior highs, and some actually house the 7th grade in the same building as high school students. For consistency in this report, we will refer to the respondents aged 12 to 14 as junior high and to the others as high school.

     North: 160
     South: 299

Note: The line for north and south was determined above or below Augusta, with the down east respondents, while technically south as the crow flies or the boat, counted as northern Maine because of driving distance.

     111 from urban locations
     348 from rural locations

Note: The definition of what is urban and what is rural is a highly debated point for social demographic research, and is relative state to state. A line must be drawn somewhere, and we have used the Muskie School of Public Service's guidelines. See Appendix.

The difference between urban/rural and north/south approximate the actual population distribution in Maine, with most of Maine living in southern, rural towns. Similarly, the ethnic demographics echo Maine's ethnic make-up: 3% of survey respondents declined this optional question, 91% identified as Caucasian, and 6% indicated non-White ethnicity. Included were African American, Native American Indian, Somalian, Latina, and Asian/Pacific Islander girls.

Approximately two-thirds of the respondents live with two adults, some combination of natural or adoptive parents, step-parents, parent's significant other, foster parents or guardian care. The numbers shift slightly when broken down according to age:

     80% of respondents in junior high have a two-adult household
     73% of respondents in high school have a two-adult household

These numbers indicate that the result of the divorce rate may for a time present youth and their families with the challenges of single parent households, or for shared custody difficulties; but, because their parents find new partners, an additional challenge for youth may be to adapting to a new authority figure, possibly new siblings and the sharing of resources, parental attention, and private space in their blended families.

75% of the respondents have spent 10 years of more in Maine, with the majority of these girls actually having lived in Maine all of their lives.

The breakdown for their parents being from Maine is nearly identical for both mothers and fathers:
      69% of all respondents fathers are from Maine (63% if urban-dwelling)
      68% of all respondents mothers are from Maine (59% if urban dwelling)

All but 3% of the girls responding have traveled out of state, and approximately half have traveled out of the country, no matter what sort combination for age and urban/rural. For northern-dwelling girls the number of out-of-the-country traveler slightly increases to 59%, which conjecture could attribute to Canadian proximity.

There are some interesting differences in the numbers when looking at the highest level of education completed by the respondent's mothers and fathers, most notably with the difference between parents with only some high school or with post-college graduate work: more mothers had done post-college graduate work, and more fathers had not graduated high school. The data marked with below must not be considered as completely accurate, as these are extraordinarily high numbers, perhaps due to confusion between “graduate work” and “graduated”. It is our feeling that the girls indicated that their parents “graduated”, and these numbers do not necessarily mean that they did master's or doctoral studies, and it would be safe to assume that the mothers do have a higher amount of education than the fathers.

(Note: Father's data will not total 100% due to missing data.)

Consistent with the American trend of two income households, only 19% of their mothers are not working outside of the home, and 9% of the fathers. There was no discernable difference with age or urban/rural sorting.

In this culture, children are not usually included in the family financial discussions, and rarely know what the family income is. Open discussion of sex is more likely at the dinner table than finances. The majority of the girls responding feel that their families have enough money. Those who don't feel their families have enough is about the same for junior as well as senior high girls. The older girls have a different opinion about having more than enough, though, which may reflect their increased expenditures as they go out more, have cars or need to contribute to a friend's gas fund, as well as the increased consumerism that comes with mobility and access to stores.

While girls indicate that they perceive to have enough or more than enough money in their family, other data in the state indicates that the girls' perceptions do not necessarily agree with actual poverty numbers. The Maine Children's Alliance reports in the Maine Kids Count 1999 Data Book (see appendix for information) that children aged 0-17 living at or below the federal poverty line, for a five year average over 1992-1996 is nearly 16% (compared to a national figure of 21%). Families that make above the poverty line but are still not able to meet their basic needs are not included in this figure: 31.4% of school children in Maine received subsidized school lunches in the 1997-1998 school year.

79% of the girls responding feel that they have the right amount of responsibility in their family. 9% feel they do not have enough, and 12% feel they have more than enough. There was no difference between the junior high and the high school girls.

There is a leaning for the girls to have a slightly better relationship with their mothers than their fathers. From these numbers, it is clear that most girls have a positive relationship with at least one of their parents. Combining the two responses “Warm and close” with “Lukewarm/Close”, 79% are well established with their mother, compared to 70% who are well connected to their fathers. At the other end of the scale, combining the three completely negative responses— “Chilly/Not very close,” “Cold and distant”, and “Hot—we are enemies” —10% of girls have difficult relationships with their mothers and 25% have difficult relationships with their fathers. The increase of negative relationships with fathers over mothers is quite high, and looking for ways to help fathers and daughters improve their relationships could be beneficial to both the girls and their fathers.

Girls' Comments on Part One

This first request for comments from the girls gave them an opportunity to let us know where our questions and options for answers were insufficient or too limiting. The list of responses, for example, for their living situation did not allow for specific step-relations, or same-sex parents. Several girls don't have access to information about one or another parent (usually their father) due to a divorce, and several girls explain missing information due to no place to put biological parent and step parent information, or because of a parent's death. Most of the responses, however, were words of encouragement to the survey-writers, telling us “So far so good” or “Fun!” It was also clear where the proctors had not fully explained the purpose of the survey, as the girls said things like “Why do you want to know?”

How do girls see themselves? Attitudes and outlook.

The girls were asked to select which statements would apply to them personally, choosing as many of the phrases as they wanted from the list. In descending order of those frequency:

A third of the girls self-identify as often bored, which corresponds closely with the preliminary numbers from the Maine Aspirations Benchmarking Initiative (see appendix for information). In their findings, 34.5% of girls in 6^th through 8^th grade and 25.7% of girls in high school agree or strongly agree with the statement, “I am usually bored when I'm in school.” Yet, in the Mainely Girls survey, in spite of these high numbers to the negative, most of the girls indicate that they are fairly happy (73%), and even optimistic (50%). Their optimism and happiness is positive, with exceptions for individuals and for difficult circumstances. Girls say they are managing and thriving, and the overwhelming feeling is that they are happy individuals. However, we need to acknowledge that there is strong societal pressure for girls to appear happy, smiling, and feeling “fine!”

38% of the respondents identify affirmatively to being a member or attending church regularly. Of interest is that the number is substantially different with an age sort:

     41% of junior high respondents are church members
      31% of high school respondents are church members

The spirituality of youth is not often explored, especially in public education. The connections among girls' spirituality, well being, and emotional strength need to be explored as adults work to understand and to support girls in their development. Examining what stresses and depresses them is a quick and precise way to begin an inquiry:

How often do girls feel stressed?

34% of the respondents indicate they are always or almost always stressed. Markedly, there is a difference between junior high and high school with increased stress levels, as the combined groups of always or almost always stressed in junior high is 27%--not an insignificant number in itself-- while in high school that group jumps to 44%:

When asked for what things or activities make them feel stressed, the answers fell into three general categories:

     Work, Family/fighting, School

Under the school category, there were distinct and specific sub-categories:

     Tests, Homework, Social Aspects (friends, boyfriends, groups), Sports

Once the girls get to high school, the increased amount and complexity of homework, increased responsibility for home chores or siblings, and an increased number of girls holding part-time jobs all seem to factor in heavily. Future queries into the working lives of Maine girls, and how girls can maximize earning opportunities, skill development, job advancement and working conditions would be a worthy investigation, relevant to developing strategies for improving their lives and futures.

10% of the respondents indicate that they feel depressed always or almost always, with little difference between junior high and high school girls. This is a hard core and consistent number throughout the survey, and the concern is to whether or not these girls have been identified and are being treated.

68% of the girls indicate that they feel depressed at least once in a while.
     The junior high girls just a little less so at 65%.
     The high school girls just a little more so at 73%.

While these numbers are not all that surprising, what is most useful and of interest is what makes the girls depressed. They can be broken down into two categories, one specific to their lives and one more general in nature:

Personal counseling, medical care, birth control and dental care are costly. Maine has an aggressive child medical care program, but counseling and mental wellness services are highly restricted by insurance companies. And insurance companies are even less likely than a girl's parents to pay for birth control.

Before accepting these numbers at face value, it is helpful to know some of the reasons why they say care is not available.

Personal counseling.

There were interesting responses to why girls don't feel personal counseling services are available. The overwhelming reason was simply because the girls don't want or need it, which may mean that the 15% of “no—counseling not available” is somewhat inflated. Several girls state that they take care of their problems themselves (or are too “proud” to go for help), or seek other resources like family or friends. There were a few girls who are not allowed to get counseling services, some because it is “mom's rule” and others because of their parents' money situation. Some said that it is simply unavailable where they live, or, in the case of using school counselors, the counselor is only available some days and it's difficult to get an appointment due to the demands for counselor time. Others are unwilling to talk to a counselor, for a variety of reasons: it wouldn't help, it isn't worth the time they have to wait, they don't trust anyone, or, in a couple of cases, the community is too small and they have a relationship with the counselor outside of school and don't feel comfortable or safe confiding. The questions the girls' answers raise are who are the counselors—school guidance, therapists, social workers, and neighbors? How often are they available to the girls? And what type of counseling do these girls actually need?

Medical and Dental care.

The 1999 Maine Kids Count report (see Appendix for information), a more complete picture of what Maine children's health care status is really like, and of what the Medicaid State Agency, the IMPACT Programs, and the Department of Human Services are doing to make access and reporting more streamlined. Affordable health insurance is available to families with uninsured children under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), with expanded Medicaid and Cub Care. The Maine Department of Human Services' report of Health Insurance Coverage Among Maine's Children: the Results of a Household Survey 1997 says that 10% of Maine's children do not have health insurance coverage, yet only 9% of the girls taking the Mainely Girls survey said that they were unable to have care. Of the few girls who say medical care isn't always available when needed, the biggest reason was money or insurance. For a few, it was literal access—getting someone to take them to see a doctor that is a problem, most often due to parents or guardian's availability.

In the case of dental care, programs are growing for low-income children, but the low number of participating dentists and the difficulty with paperwork is an obstacle still being worked on, according to the 1999 Data Book. For the girls offering an explanation for their difficulty with dental care access, the reasons were primarily financial, though some stated it was trouble getting an appointment from a dentist accepting new patients. The question as it was worded asks whether, when a girl has a pressing need to see a dentist, can she do so? If the questions had read “Do you see a dentist every 6 months for preventative care?” or “Do you see a doctor for preventative care?” the number of girls unable to get dental care would likely be much higher.

Birth control.

12% said birth control is not available and 2% said they are not sure. 20 to 25 fewer responses were given for this question than the others regarding service availability, perhaps indicating for those survey participants who declined to answer that access to birth control is not an issue for them at this time. As with counseling services, “no—birth control not available” may be somewhat inflated because so many of the girls cite the reason it's not available is because they don't need it at this time or are simply too young to even think about it yet. Of course, if all girls were to actually ask their parents if they could get birth control, the number might increase greatly. Several said they don't know because they haven't asked, but more girls said that it would be forbidden or that they would be too scared to even ask. There are a couple of girls who equate needing birth control with being pregnant, and hopefully a health class or parent will straighten them out sooner than later. Only one girl said that her community is too small to allow girls to get birth control confidentially, but she knows of others who've gone outside of the community to get what they need. Here are a few of their remarks:

Physical and learning disabilities of girls?

39 girls responding, or 9%, indicate that they have a disability. Their explanations include ADD and other learning disorders; asthma; depression; visual and auditory impairment; and specific diseases and physical disabilities.

Mental health and self-destructive behaviors.

The next few questions establish what sort of pressures, activities and concerns are in the world of Maine girls, what they see impacting the lives of their peers as well as themselves.

To better understand choices that girls are faced with about their personal behavior, it's helpful to take a look at the choices that are being made by their peers. The girls were asked if they consider themselves to be involved in that same list of eight behaviors/activities. 165 girls said yes, which is 36% of the total survey sample.

For all eight of these behaviors and activities, the numbers were examined for differences between junior high and high school girls, for those who live in urban and rural areas, and for those who live in northern or southern locations. All percentages are based on the number according to their sort. For easy reference, the totals of the girls according to those sorts are in the chart below.

Eating disorders. 36 girls, 8% of survey population.

There were no significant differences among any of the sorts at all, with the percentages all coming in at about 8%. While this number may seem “low” compared to the other numbers in this section, it should be remembered that eating disorders have the highest fatality rate of any mental illness at this time.

Mutilation/Self-Tattoo. 23 girls, 5% of survey population.

Location did not offer any significant differences, but 3% of the total junior high sample compared to 8% of the high school sample self-identify in this category. This is a number almost certainly on the rise, as well, as piercing and tattoos take on cultural meaning for youth. The data didn't differentiate between piercing/tattoos and the practice of self-cutting/scarring that may indicate deeper disturbances needing professional help.

Depression. 80 girls, 17% of survey population.

There was a huge increase from the total junior high sample, 13%, to the high school sample, 24%. The northern and rural girl's numbers were higher than the southern and urban girls who self-identify with depression: urban, 14%; rural, 18%; north, 19%; and south, 16%. A question for further study might be: are northern, rural girls in actuality struggling more with depression than girls who live in Maine's southern and urban locations? If so, why, and what can be done to help?

Stealing. 45 girls, 10% of survey population.

While the difference of self-identified girls in junior high or high school who steal is marginal (9% of our junior high respondents, 11% of our high school respondents), the number of girls dealing with the issue is largest in urban areas. 16% of the girls who said they steal are from urban areas, while only 8% of girls who steal say they are from rural locations. As most of the urban locations are in southern Maine, the slightly lower number of northern-living girls who steal, 8% coincides with the slightly higher number of southern-living girls, 11%.

Smoking. 83 girls, 18% of survey population.

There's almost not a degree of difference whether the girls who smoke were from urban, rural, north or south, all hovering around 18%. The age difference, however, is staggering: 12% of the junior high girls participating in the survey say they smoke; 30% of the high school girls participating say they smoke. As with other high-risk behaviors, smoking prevention needs to be addressed in junior high, and at the high school level education must include intervention as well as prevention.

Drinking. 95 girls, 21% of survey population.

Just as with smoking, the urban, rural, north and south sorts matched up with the total sample percentage, at 21%. 10% of junior high respondents leaps to 39% of high school students responding who drink.

Drugs. 54 girls, 12% of survey population.

Girls' life experiences and choices continue to become more complex as they get older. Drug usage by 6% of junior high respondents increased to 22% by the high school respondents. The numbers were slightly higher for the urban, southern dwelling girls, at 15% and 13%, respectively, than they were for the rural and northern dwelling girls, at 11% and 10%, respectively.

Gangs. 16 girls, 3% of survey population.

As might be guessed, urban, southern girls self-identified at a higher rate than the rural, northern girls, but because the sampling is so small, the difference was only one percentage point. Curiously, the junior high girls were more likely to be involved in gang activity than the high school girls. An entire grade at a middle school was surveyed, though, and despite efforts to get a similar occurrence at a same-district high school, we were not able to do so.

Girls see or know that abuse and violence is happening to their peers, and asking them about this can give us another look into what girls' perception of the world is, in their immediate surroundings. (*) indicates an inability to get an accurate percentage as most respondents left this section blank. What is evident is that girls are much more likely to be victims of sexual and rape crimes than boys.

Number of girls who self-identify as victims of abuse?

Without providing definitions or explanations of what constitutes abuse or abusive behavior, a difficult legal as well as philosophical task, the girls were asked if they consider themselves having been a victim of abuse or violence. The total number of girls who said yes totaled 112, or 25% of the sample. In the chart below, notable differences can be seen in the sort of the numbers, the bold indicating the higher of the sorted percentages, with actual number for reference:

Responding girls who were in high school, from rural and/or northern locations, were much more likely to perceive themselves as victims of violence or abuse (and again, no definitions of the abuses were offered, just a check box). To say that the older the girl, and the more remote her location—presumably more removed from services and emergency help—the more danger she could be in is a frightening observation from this data. The actual types of abuse and violence are charted below, giving the number of girls who checked the abuse, the percentage within the self identified group, and the percentage from the survey respondents as a whole:

It is counter-intuitive that a higher number of girls would consider themselves victims of sexual abuse than physical abuse. But these are the reported numbers from the girls themselves. Did they include sexual harassment, perhaps in their understanding of “sexual abuse”? Without further questioning, this data remains unclear. The next few questions re-asked the previous questions but in more specific terms and may offer an easier way to understand information:

Has domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or verbal abuse been a problem for girls? Do they know how to get help? Was that person living in her home and/or a relative?

Domestic violence.

71 girls, 15% of the survey sample, indicated that domestic violence is or has been a problem in their homes. 65 of those 71 (92%) girls said that they know how to get help. 6 girls (8%) did not.

Physical violence.

112 girls, 25% of the survey sample, indicated that they have been subject to physical abuse (being intentionally hurt or injured). 64 of these 112 girls (57%) said it was a relative or person living in her home. In more than half of the cases of girls who have been victims of physical abuse, the girls have not been safe in their own homes.

Sexual abuse.

70 girls, 15% of the survey sample, said they have been sexually abused. Only 52 (74%) of them said that she knew how to get help, and 43 girls (61%) said that the perpetrator was someone from her own home—again, revealing that some girls are not safe in their own homes.

Verbal abuse.

An amazing 235, 51% of the survey sample, said that they have been verbally abused (constantly put down, yelled at). Of these girls, 152 (65%) said the source of the abuse was someone living in her home. 83 of the girls (35%) did not say it was a person from her own home.

Suicide: How often do girls have thoughts about ending their own lives?

The Mainely Girls survey did not ask the girls if they had ever attempted suicide, just if they had ever considered it. 28% of the total sample checked one of the following: “once in a while,” “frequently,” or “everyday.” 10% of the girls have had suicidal thoughts or impulses in the past “but not anymore.” The majority of the girls said “never,” which is the good news. While girls make more attempts at suicide than boys, girls who do attempt suicide often choose less violent (i.e. not guns or hanging) methods that have higher failure rates or provide for greater chance of intervention (e.g., drug overdose, cutting of wrists).

The Maine Kids Count 1999 Data Book reports that in Maine, the child suicide rate was 11 per 10,000 children aged 10-19 over a five-year average, 1992-1996.

How do girls describe their bodies? How often do they diet?

The girls were given four choices to describe their bodies: “about right,” “too thin,” “too heavy,” or “how I feel depends on the time of day. Over 50% indicated that they are not happy with how they look or what they weigh. 42% of the girls are exercising 4 or more times per week, with the number of girls who don't exercise at all matching the number of girls who exercise 6-7 times a week.

How many times do girls exercise per week (on average)?

Weekly exercise habits.

What are the cross-tabulations of body perception and exercise?

A solid 50% of the girls are feeling their body size is about right. There are 50% who are not comfortable with their bodies. 55% fall in a range of exercise of three to seven times a week.

How much of television and movies do girls watch per week for entertainment?

202 girls, 44% of the survey sample, watch TV and movies either everyday or almost everyday. The lifestyle and time demands change between junior high girls and high school girls so that 49% of the younger girls watch TV this much, but it drops to 36% with the older girls.

This series of questions was included in Part Two: Body, Heart and Soul, but after a few initial questions on orientation and perceived “best time” to first have sex, only girls who had had sex filled out the remainder of the section.

Of the 459 girls, only nine said they consider themselves to be non-heterosexual. Those nine selected “bisexual” as their sexual orientation. No girls indicated identification as homosexual or lesbian. The uncontrolled distribution of the survey, or an unintended bias in the survey semantics, or the societal bias against non-hetero orientation (trans-gendered, homosexual, questioning, or other), or even a girl's own place in development may have resulted in this number being lower than what is actually true in our survey sample. Also, a large number of youth who are on the streets and not in schools have left home due to conflicts about their sexuality.

The percentages are based on the respondent total for this question of 408, but the answers below exceed 100% because 56 girls chose more than one answer.

How many of the respondents have had sex? How old were they, and how old was their partner?

22%, or 101 of the 459 girls surveyed had had sex. We did not ask if the girls had had a sexual experience with the same sex, and would amend this in a future query, but to the best of our understanding, their partners were all male. The majority of all the survey participants were either 12-13 year olds/7th graders or 15-16 years old/11th graders and the question was about their first sexual experience. 79 of the 101girls had partners who were the same age or within 5 years of their age. Except for one girl, all of the partners were older.

50%, 85 of the total 169 high school girls surveyed, had had sex between the ages of 12 and 17.

6%, 16 of the total 290 junior high girls surveyed had had sex between the ages of 7 and 13.

The increase of sexual activity is expected as the girls get older, and the percentage jump is startling. None of the junior high girls surveyed actually had their first sexual experience at age 14, yet the high school girls had a high incidence of first sexual activity at age 14. This gap in the data might indicate that the transition time between spring and fall of their 8^th grade and 9^th grade year is actually an important time.

The data from the 101 girls who had had sex is examined in different points, with further explanation or comment:

47% of the 101 girls were 14 or younger when they first had sex.

Close to half of the girls have had sex before they've finished their 9^th grade year. This is valuable information for parents who are unsure of when to have sexual information talks with their children. Clearly, girls' sexuality becomes an issue for a girl sooner than perhaps parents and our society may be prepared to admit.

76% of the 101 girls were under the legal age of consent.

Though a girl may have had sex before the age of 16, it doesn't necessarily mean the sexual encounter was statutory rape. If the girl is under the age of consent, less than 16 years old, and if the partner is 5 or more years older, that is statutory rape. For example, if a girl is 14 and her partner is 18, that's legal; if she is 14 and he is 19, that is not. Maine law indicates that the legal age of consent is 16 years (Maine Criminal Statue Book, Title XVII). Gross sexual assault, or rape, can be found under several conditions and contingencies. For example, if the girl (or boy, if the victim is a male) is not yet 14 years of age; if intoxicants or drugs were involved; if the victim is of a less-than-able mental status; if the victim is unconscious or rendered physically incapable, for a few examples.

15% of the 101 girls had partners who were 5 or more years older.

Two of the girls were of the age of consent, but fourteen of the girls, who were under the age of 16, had partners that ranged 5 to 13 years older. Therefore, even if the girls were willing—some of the girls in fact indicate that they are in love with their partner—their partners could possibly be convicted as felons.

10% of the partners with whom the girls first had sex were between the age of 20 and 26.

Keeping in mind that mostly 7^th and 11^th graders took this survey, this statement points to a serious problem. The age range of these particular ten girls was 13 to 17, with only four of them at the legal age of consent, and two of them being within four years of their partners' age. Eight of these ten girls' first sexual experience was with a man who was in his twenties and between 5 and 13 years older.

As this was an open response question here, some of the girls' answers had more than one component to them. There were eleven types of responses identified, listed in descending order.

“Because I wanted to/I was ready." 65 girls indicated that they themselves chose to have sex, sometimes saying they trusted their partners and felt respected by them. Also included in this category were responses such as "Felt the urge" and "I was horny" which are important reminders that girls experience their sexuality and sexual feelings as strongly as anyone.

"Love." 20 of the respondents said the reason they became sexually involved was because they were in love with their partner. Some of these answers said it was still true; others indicated it no longer was so.

"I don't know." 13 girls simply stated that they didn't know why they chose to have sex. Carol Gilligan's work on dissociation indicates that girls do know, but push away their own knowing.

"Long-term/committed relationship." 11 respondents explained they chose to have sex because of the status of their relationship.

"Forced/raped." 6 girls stated that the reason they had sex for the first time was because it was forced upon them.

"He wanted to/pressured." 4 girls gave over their own voice and choice in their decision to have sex for the first time.

"I was drunk." 4 girls explained their first sexual experience was had under the influence of alcohol.

"Thought he would leave me." 3 girls gave in to sexual pressure because they felt it was necessary to do so in order to stay in the relationship.

"He was my boyfriend." 2 girls gave this answer, which is widely open for interpretation. It implies an assumed behavior, but doesn't easily or clearly indicate that they felt ready or wanted to, as in the first category above.

"I was stupid." 2 girls actually called themselves stupid, and 2 others referred self-deprecatingly to their confusion in their choice.

Many of the girls responding to these questions about their first sexual experiences were or seem to be still happy with their decision: "We respected each other." "Because it felt right." "Because we discussed it, and had been abstinent for over a year. We both wanted to share the experience, we are still in love today.” 60% of the respondents' answers were quite positive in this way, and didn't hint at any regret.

For the 13 girls who didn't or couldn't explain why they choose sex that first time, their neutrality is telling. They are likely to be still sorting out the experience and their emotions--restrictions of time and place, the amount of internal or external pressure, the experience level of her partner, and how the relationship has continued since the encounter, probably factor in to the "I don't know." Setting aside those who said their first sexual encounter was forced, there were 23 girls who either out right or semantically indicted regret or disappointment: "I thought I was in love." "I felt like that person really cared and was not going to leave me or hurt me. Well, I guess I was wrong." "I thought it was the right person, didn't know better."

Unfortunately, only the girls who had had sex were asked this question--undoubtedly there are many girls who have not yet had sex have been pressured. Of the girls who have had sex, 47 of them did say they had felt pressure. 29 of them indicated it was pressure felt from the male, usually a boyfriend, with the spectrum of pressure being perceived as unintentional ("my boyfriend made me feel pressured even though he didn't know") to violent ("my ex-boyfriend raped me"). Sometimes it was just a date or guys who were around when the girl was drunk, and in at least one case, it was a friend's brother. 5 girls felt pressure from peers ("my friends did--they said if you don't do it you're just a kid and I have not had a lot of friends so to have them like me I did") and 3 girls felt "personal pressure" to perform.

59 of the 101 girls said they wish they had waited.

15 of the girls who've had sex have been pregnant: 4 junior high school girls and 11 high school girls. In our survey sample, this is just 3 %, which is well below the national and state figures for teen pregnancy. 9 of the girls miscarried, 3 had an abortion, and 3 gave birth and kept the child. No adoptions were indicated.

According to the Maine Children's Alliance's 1999 Data Book, births to unmarried teenage mother who've not completed 12 years of school was 8.4 per 1,000 females aged 10-19 over a five year average, 1992-1996. This was down 4.6% from their 1998 data, and puts Maine with one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the country.

What was revealed is that girls mean the Pill when they refer to “birth control”, and “safe sex” is equated with the use of condoms. 66% of the sexually active respondents say they always use birth control. 16% use an unspecified method of birth control, and 18% never use birth control.

These numbers are not quite as alarming when looked at alongside their responses to their safe sex practice: All of the girls said they are aware of the dangers of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. While there is a slight drop slightly with the number of girls always practicing safe sex to protect themselves from HIV and other STD', 64%, only 10% never practice safe sex. The middle answers of only usually or sometimes practicing safe sex jumps to 26%.

There had been cheerleading-type responses, or lack of clarity expressed about what was going on so far after Part One, Part Two sparked quite a flood of remarks. . Some expressed frustration with the lack of opportunity in some of the questions to accurately respond, due to the limitations of their choices. The girls wanted to further clarify things that they had been asked about, mostly about the topic of sex. Many girls felt that the survey was way too personal, or that we were asking too much about their sexual lives. “Gross!” “Funny!” “Cool!!!!...” were interspersed with the recommendation we mind our own business and longer remarks about their opinions about being sexually active:

PART THREE: SCHOOL BIZ'

What are girls' favorite activities, in or out of school?

Hats off to Title IX! 71% of the girls indicated that they play sports, either club, school, or recreationally, and this percentage was consistent among junior high/high school, urban/rural, or northern/southern girls. While many play different sport for different seasons, their favorites are listed below. This list should be useful when considering what programming or opportunities to offer to girls. Their favorite activities have been divided into sports and non-sports activities, and are listed in descending order of frequency mention in each of the categories:

How many girls work? What are they paid for their work?

The number of girls who are working is amazing: 391 of 459. 95% of high school girls and 88% of junior high girls. The numbers were just a couple of percentage points higher for girls who were urban and southern dwelling than rural and northern. Many of the girls had multiple sources of employment, but 65% had babysitting as at least one source. Babysitting was done more frequently for urban (74%) or junior high girls (69%) than rural (62%) or high school girls (58%).

The girls' pay was a bit difficult to figure out, as they were asked to give the pay range per hour and some were unable to answer that because they were paid by the job/task, or, they simply didn't know how much they made.

Lowest pay range of the 381 girls with jobs.

Highest pay range of the 381 girls with jobs.

The lowest pay range table gives the lowest of what the girls might make per hour. When looking at the girls' pay, using their highest pay range, the number of girls who make under minimum wage drops down to 51%. When an urban/rural sort is applied to the lowest pay range, rural dwelling girls fare a little better, with only 64% of them making under minimum wage while 73% of the urban girls responding who work making under minimum wage.

What does a girl have to do/be to be accepted by the kids in her school—not just her friends? A boy?

We asked girls what a girl had to do or be to be accepted, and followed that with what they felt a boy had to do or be. Their answers were sometimes short and to the point—“nothing”, “dress good”, “be cool”—and others were long lists of specific do's and don'ts. 6% of those who did respond (408 for the girls' question, and 407 for the boys' question) said they didn't know what a girl had to do and 10% said they didn't know what a boy had to do. About 13% said that both girls and boys simply had to be themselves or do nothing in particular to be accepted (although immediately after saying this, several qualified their answer by adding that clothes or looks were important).

Note that the percentages below do not total 100 as many of the girls listed multiple answers to the question. We would caution readers in underestimating seriousness and importance of the responses about peer acceptance, as even in their apparent humor and sarcasm, they are quite serious. Dress codes and behavior pressures are not superficial or trivial.

The single largest factor according to the girls responding is that a girl be "nice" or "outgoing". Those answers and variations totaled 29%. 16% feel that a girl has to be "cool" or "popular". The numbers for boys was slightly inverted. The single largest factor for boys was to be "cool" or "popular", the 93 responses giving this answer 23%. 17% believed a boy has to be "nice" or "outgoing" to be accepted.

16% felt looks were important for girls to be accepted, closely matched by 14% believing looks were important for boys. 8% specified that a thin body was important for a girl, while only 5 respondents or 1% of the girls mentioned a thin or tall body for boys as key to social acceptance. 23% indicate that cool clothes are critical for girls and 17% indicate that cool clothes are necessary for boys.

Athleticism had a significant gender difference: while 14% said it was important for boys to be athletic, only 4% indicated as such for girls. The other large gender gap was that 37% believe that boys have to act macho, rude and/or obnoxious to be accepted, and there wasn't any clear counterpart answer for girls' behavior besides a couple of answers that said a girl needed to be flirty or ditzy (under 2%). Other perceptions that registered multiple responses include being funny (6% for girls, 8% for boys), being smart (4% for girls, 3% for boys), doing drugs, smoking or drinking (3% for both), conforming (11% for girls, 6% for boys), and being a good, honorable person (5% for girls, 3% for boys).

Do girls feel physically safe in school?

The number one reason why girls didn't feel safe in their school was because of other kids—their moods, behavior, fights, and threats. The next largest group was of girls who felt targeted specifically. Drugs and/or smoking was followed by girls who didn't feel safe due specifically to the behavior of boys who target girls—rape, sexual harassment, verbal abuse and general physical safety being their concerns. Next, girls were troubled by both kids who bring weapons to school and by the other school shootings happening around the country (Note that the majority of the students took this survey before the Columbine incident in April 1999.). Girls were aware of groups who were targets—arty kids, gay/lesbians, nerds, or specific races. Additional reasons cited at least once include the presence or lack of presence of police; bomb scares; intimidating teachers; the physical plant's condition; and, for one girl, her own predilection for fighting made it unsafe for her at school. In their words:

Strangely, what makes some girls feel safe and reassured might not make adults feel so easy:

The overwhelming reasons for feeling safe is because they don't perceive their school as a place for violence or weapons, and they feel their teacher and principals are watching out for them. For so many, the size of their school and/or community made them feel safe. Fourth on their list was having friends who offered security and protection, and not feeling personally targeted. This was followed by girls being confident in their own strength and ability to defend themselves. Getting at least one mention were family proximity to the school, presence of a police officer and cleanliness of the school.

For many of the girls, their confidence in who they were in relationship to their peers was extremely strong and positive, as their remarks indicate. Does that mean they have found out the rules of the game and assimilated early on? Does it mean that they have to work hard to maintain their strength? Does the community at their school support and challenge them? It would be interesting to know how seriously these girls have been challenged about their individuality. One girl from southern rural high school felt that girls had more lee-way for being who they want to be than boys do: "You are more respected if you are who you are...(this only applies to girls, for boys, it is safer to be like others)."

Sexuality is only one of the areas where it is not always safe for a girl to be herself. One issue is choosing to be or not be sexually active and the possible fallout when that information gets out to her immediate peer group or beyond. Another issue is sexual orientation and how safe it is to explore or even acknowledge non-heterosexuality. While one of the girls did say she could be open about her sexuality, others indicated that it was not safe to address sexuality or orientation.

Being a target for teasing, exclusion and harassment was the main reason why girls said it was not safe to be themselves at school. And whether she lives in a rural or an urban area, the close and closed community of the school makes it impossible to escape when things go wrong in the peer group. While clothes, behaviors, circles of friends delineate some things for a time, for some students the security of acceptance cannot be locked in. As one junior high girl from a northern rural school said, You can't be too sure about anything." For the young women who are feeling strong and secure, hats off. "I am all `dat.'"

Do girls think of themselves as smart? Why?

83% of the girls answered “yes!” 2% said “yes and no.” Over half of the girls taking the survey indicated that at least part of the reason they considered themselves to be smart or not smart was based on their school grades. Many girls were unable or unwilling to consider why or why not too deeply, responding simply, “Because I am!" Several girls explained their smartness as due to the fact they didn't do drugs, had common sense, an ability to tell right from wrong, or because of their effort/willingness to learn. Other explanations:

What are their grades?

The majority of the girls participating in the survey are getting good grades in school. The girls report that about 22% of them are getting all A's in their classes, 41% get A's and B's. 28% get mostly B's and C's with the occasional A or D, and 8% of the respondents get C's D's and F's. A grade is one indicator of how things are going for girls, and certainly when they drop below C-level we would expect the traditional support systems to come into play. What we are recognizing is that the traditional support systems and means of identifying and subsequently attending to at-risk youth, don't necessarily take care of at-risk girls. The explanations of girls who have considered dropping out of school, and their sentiments are reflected in other data from the survey.

First, the numbers of girls who've considered dropping out: 40 of the younger girls (14% of the 290 junior high girls) and 34 of the high school girls (20% of the 169 high school girls) have considered dropping out of school. Half of the junior high girls said that they wanted to drop out either because they were bored or because they hated it (no further explanation). The next most frequent reasons were 1) because of stress or difficulty, 2) because they felt they weren't learning or school was a waste of their time, or, 3) because of difficulty with either peers or teachers. The high school girls had the same types of responses, but the distribution was a little different and they tended to give longer, more detailed, and obviously more considered answers. The number one reason, cited by a third of the high school girls, was because they felt that school was a waste of their time and that they weren't learning anything, a few of them indicating that they would prefer to home school or could educate themselves better. It would probably be safe to assume that several of these girls are bored, but only one high school girl gave boredom as an answer. The next frequent response was that they "hated it" (school), followed by peer relations and by feelings of stress and pressure, and depression. A few other reasons offered were their teachers or a desire to be with family (for one girl, her mother; for another, her child).

The girls were asked about their favorite and least favorite class and why they felt that way. Because this was a fill in the blank, and the options were not controlled, many girls put in more than one response for each of the requests.

Essentially there was a three-way tie for most favorite class (24-25%): English/writing classes, Math, and Social Studies/History. A distant fourth place were Science classes (13%), and combined tally of Arts, Music, and Theatre was just 11%.

Only two girls said that computer classes and three girls said accounting classes were their favorite. Knowing what we know about the place of computers and business in the working world today, this is quite a concern and we need to look for ways to make computers more relevant and interesting in girls lives.

For least favorite classes of the girls taking the survey, Math classes took the lead with 32%, and Science classes followed at 24%. English/writing classes and Social Studies/History classes tied for third least favorite class at 15%.

There was a slightly higher percentage of high school girls who said Science was their favorite class, and a slightly higher percentage of junior high girls who said Science was their least favorite class. A slightly higher percentage of junior high girls said Math was their favorite, and a slightly higher percentage of high school girls gave Math as their least favorite.

When girls named a math or science class as their favorite, it was more about whether or not they were good or understood the subject, with only a few saying it was because of the teacher. With the other classes, it was very much about their interest in the subject, that they liked the activities and found the class fun, interesting and challenging. And unlike with math or science classes, many girls specifically listed the teacher as a factor when they liked a class.

When a math or science class was named as their least favorite, the overwhelming response was because they were not good at the subject. The next largest response was the fact they thought the class was boring or irrelevant, and the third factor being the teacher. When talking about other classes being their least favorite, the largest factor was if they thought the class was boring or irrelevant, followed by the teacher, and then their ability to understand.

Nearly all the girls answered this question, with the percentages based on 453 to 455 out of the 459 survey respondents. Junior high students seemed more confident at their computer skills and reading abilities, while the high school girls were slightly more confident than the younger girls in both math and science.

Do girls consider dropping out of school? Why?

17% of the survey sample has considered dropping out of school. As may be expected, the high school rate, 21%, was higher than the junior high rate, 14%. While there was no difference with an urban and rural sort, there was substantial difference between northern and southern dwelling girls: 11% of the northern sample had considered dropping out while 20% of the southern dwelling girls had considered it. Their reasons are listed in descending order of frequency:

• Hate it (17 responses)
• Not learning anything/Waste of time (13 responses)
• Stress/Difficulty of work (11 responses)
• Boredom (10 responses)
• Negative peer environment (9 responses)
• Depression (4 responses)
• Negative interaction with teachers (4 responses)
• Wanting to be with parent or child (3 responses)

If the answers of boredom, feeling that school is a waste of time, and simply hating it can be combined, that accounts for over half of the girls' reasons for wanting to drop out of school.

Do girls perceive that women's accomplishments and contributions are well represented in their school and curriculum?

77% of the girls responding to the question felt that women were well represented in their school, classes, text books and course offerings, with 22% feeling the opposite. The remaining 1% was unsure.

• “I think it is important to have [a sexual harassment] program in schools. I am glad it is important for our school so when it happened to me I knew what I could do and what I should do.”
• “I feel sexual harassment is overrated and blown out of proportion. Girls need to know the difference between acceptable flirting and harassment. The line is thin but often girls are confused and abuse the privilege of `crying' harassment.”

38% (173 girls) of the total survey sample said that they had been sexually harassed by another student. The percentage of junior high girls, 36%, was slightly lower than the number of high school girls, 41%. While 68% said that the harassment had stopped, 32% indicated it hadn't at all or gave a "yes and no" answer.

The girls were asked how they dealt with the harassment and their answers can be categorized in three general responses: they either laughed or ignored it; they dealt with the situation themselves; or, they told someone. Some of the girls gave multiple responses as they had had multiple experiences and handled it different ways at different times, according to the severity and their perceived safety in the situation.

A full third of the girls, 34%, said they had just "laughed" it off or "ignored" the situation altogether.

22%, or 38 girls, had taken the situation in their own hands, and some of their responses are listed below:

How did being sexually harassed make girls feel?

A full third of the girls told someone about the harassment, often a school counselor, teacher or principal but also their mothers or boyfriends. Five girls had even gone to the police and/or pressed charges. Of the girls who did nothing or took the situation in their own hands, 30% to 33% indicated that the problem had not fully been solved, whereas the girls who told someone about the harassment, 25% of them still experienced the problems.

While five girls experienced harassment that escalated to the extreme and went to the police, none of the girls specifically indicated that she had gone to her school's affirmative action officer.

Girls' comments at the end of Part Three: Body, Heart and Soul.

Here the girls were less annoyed with the survey and its creators than they were at the end of the second section. Their responses reiterated earlier sentiments, provided encouragement, or explained further thoughts related to questions. The final remarks that came at the end of the survey offer more insights.

We asked a series of questions about the girls' thoughts and plans for their future, starting by asking them to indicate all options that might possibly apply. Some girls checked all the boxes in the list; others just selected a few.

89%, or 410 of the 459 girls indicated that they are planning on going to college at some point in their future, right after high school or after some work or travel. Many girls checked both options, allowing that they would consider both in and out of state college options. But, those who preferred out of state colleges (58%) substantially exceeded those preferring in-state (38%). Girls from rural and northern locations were more likely to consider a Maine college than their urban and southern counterparts. Girls from urban and southern locations were more likely to be planning for an out-of-state college experience.